This invention pertains to the arts of contact management and corporate-to-client relationship management via electronic messaging means, such as fax and electronic mail. This invention also relates to workflow automation as it applies to client-to-provider communications as well as interdepartmental communications.
This invention was not developed in conjunction with any Federally sponsored contract.
Not applicable.
The related U.S. patent applications, Ser. Nos. 09/323,312 and 09/325,111, filed on Jun. 1, 1999, and Jun. 3, 1999, respectively, both by V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai, are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, including drawings, and hereby are made a part of this application.
Electronic mail and facsimile (xe2x80x9cfaxxe2x80x9d) messaging have become critical tools of everyday personal and business life. As companies have recognized the growing trend of clients wanting to conduct business by electronic commerce and electronic messaging, they have found the need for sophisticated technology to automate and handle the volume of messages they receive. Thus, the accuracy and speed at which companies handle their electronic messages have become an integral part of the perception of responsiveness and non-responsiveness by their clients.
Traditionally, all of the electronic messages are received in a general repository, or xe2x80x9cmailboxxe2x80x9d, and reviewed by human agents for their content, at which time a determination of the correct disposition of the email is made. This may involve sending the author a standard reply, and/or copying or fowarding the e-mail to one or more divisions, departments, or individuals within the organization for further handling. In the later case where multiple parties must be consulted, the consolidation of replies from all of the parties can be cumbersome and overwhelming, given the volume of messages to be handled.
Systems known in the art provide some methods for distributing workflow automation over a networked system of computing platforms. One such method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,857, by Steven D. Gadol. Other systems, such as IBM""s Lotus Notes product, are platforms on which workflow and e-mail handling can be automated with custom programming. While these systems provide methods of distributing processing tasks among multiple networked computers, it does not automate work on a message context-sensitive or content-intelligent basis. Consequently, a need exists for a human operator or operators of the system to read and review text-based messages, such as e-mail, to complete the required workflow process to manage customer contacts and relationships.
Many e-mail client programs allow auto-reply, auto-forward, and auto-delete capabilities based on xe2x80x9chard rulesxe2x80x9d a user can set. For example, a user can set a rule such as xe2x80x9cIF SENDER=my_boss@our_company.com, THEN FORWARD TO my_vacation_home@an_isp_faraway.netxe2x80x9d.
These kinds of simple and hard rules are not appropriate for automating a wide array of possible reply and forward functions based on content of e-mail received at a corporate level. They do not provide enough logic, reply generation, and adaption to cover the varieties and combinations of issues and requests presented in electronic messages directed toward corporate sales, customer service, and investor relations departments.
Contact management products, such as Act! From Symantec Corporation, are available to assist a user in tracking, storing, and recalling xe2x80x9crelationship informationxe2x80x9d, such as contact details for clients, their birthdays, and their hobbies. Available contact management products provide automated reminders to the user at certain times and dates. Additionally, they typically provide reminders of the subject of the last conversation. They do not provide workflow automation to accomplish relationship and contact management through a large organization, including automated classification and routing of messages and replies based on the content of messages from clients.
While these products may form a part of or entire platforms for the implementation of the contact and relationship management workflow automation system invention disclosed herein, several critical functions are not available to fulfill the needs in the art.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for workflow automation system which receives, manages, routes, responds to, and tracks inbound electronic messages.
Further, there exists a need in the art for this system to intelligently automate the classification and response process based on the content of the messages.
Finally, there exists a need in the art for this system to provide for executing outbound message campaigns and promotions.
The invention disclosed herein provides an automated system for managing large volumes of electronic message communications, such as fax and e-mail, between companies and organizations, and their clients. Because these communications are integral to the maintenance of the relationships with a client base, the invention enables quick and accurate response to client requests through intelligent handling of their messages.